[CLOSED] That was love and it's an ache I still remember

[looksfine]

Characters: Aya and Not!Razer Wally West
Date: Mid-June
Location: Wayne Enterprise
Situation: Wally comes for a visit to check out the place, and along the way, encounters a certain living robot...who might be thrown by the auditory similarities between him and a certain Red Lantern she used to know.
Warnings/Rating: W for Wally.


During the daylight hours, Aya made every attempt to put time into the laboratory at Wayne Enterprise. It was an inherited duty, with many recent disappearances. People she had known casually. People she respected, and would honor by taking up as much of the responsibilities as she was capable of.

Fortunately for their memory, Aya was capable of a lot of things.

Multitasking, for instance. Without the basic necessities most carbon-based life forms required, she could go for hours, non-stop, with little regard for the passage of time. Awareness, yes. Regard? No. She had far more important things to regard, including the multiple holo screens worth of data scrolling in front of her.  Which she was doing at that precise moment, cross-referencing and analyzing each and every variable.

"Yes.  I believe the probability of success will increase to 74.3 percent with these newest alterations."

Comments

[looksfine]

She shook her head.

"N-no." Though her shoulder slumped with guilt at having been an initially poor host, she still attempted a friendly smile through the disappointment. "You do not have to stop. I am here to answer questions that any individual may have about our current projects. I would not be performing my job adequately if I were to turn you away for so insignificant a reason."

[runrightround]

As much as Wally would hate to make someone feel uncomfortable for any reason, he's glad that he's still welcome to ask questions about the work being done here. He returns the smile.

"Oh, you work here, awesome." He pauses, and then frowns. "Obviously you work here. Why else would you be in here?"

He clears his throat.

"What were you working on?"

[looksfine]

The corners of her lips lightly twitch upward, strangely relieved by the acceptance of a change in subject. There was a strange sensation stirring inside her. Something she could not yet fully identify. Each time she thought of Razer. It was not pleasant.

"Yes. I am currently the head of the Science Division here at Wayne Enterprise. It was a position bequeathed to me upon the departure of my former bosses." Mostly by process of elimination, although Aya knew she had gained her employers' trust with her knowledge and work proficiency. "As you can see from the current screen in front of you, I am calculating the latest data from our portable communication device project to ensure its continued frequency encryption from the enemy."

[runrightround]

He perks up considerably when she mentions the project. This is a thing he can understand, and any lingering feelings of awkwardness he might have felt over the similar voice thing are pushed aside. For science.

"Radios? Nice. I was wondering how we were all supposed to deal with," he waves his hand in the air, "you know." The data on the screens are about five times more interesting to him now. "Need a hand with anything? I'm pretty handy."

[looksfine]

"Do you have the mental capacity to comprehend these readings?"

A few taps of an advanced keyboard, and Aya pulled up the visual schematics of the radio. In one upper-right corner box, there were three major calculations. One involved the actual software running the hand-held device. A second provided the primary (encrypted) frequency used to carry the signal. And the third told of the unique signatures assigned to each.

[runrightround]

He studies the schematic for a moment before turning his attention to the calculations. It's all simple enough to understand, he points to the first calculation.

"Software looks good, might need to tweak it a little if you ever want to add other usable frequencies though. But you said you were working on encryption now, right? That's smart, wouldn't want to advertise unsafe radio channels."

[looksfine]

So he did understand. Good.

"My concern is not over additional frequencies at this time. It has been difficult enough attempting to conceal this one from not only hacking, but from detection altogether."

[runrightround]

This isn't surprising to hear, considering the whole he who shall not be named situation. He tilts his head to the side, looking almost thoughtful.

"What if there was something to distract from the main frequency?"

[looksfine]

...interesting.

"Like what?"

[runrightround]

"Well, you have the main encrypted frequency, right? And that's the only one." He holds up one hand, with one finger pointed and proceeds to do the same with his other hand. "But if there was another signal set up somewhere, with a dummy frequency it could make a decent decoy."

He rubs the back of his neck.

"It might give you a little time to work on the encryption for the main one in peace. Theoretically, anyway."

[looksfine]

A dummy frequency.

Something Aya had not previously considered. In fact, she could not recall any of her recent discussions with her fellow...science bros (as the colloquialism apparently went)...involving such a suggestion.

"Would the current frequency of the public local transmitters not be considered a dummy frequency, then?"

[runrightround]

The fact that his suggestion wasn't shot down right away gives him a little sense of pride. He's glad to be of some help, even if it's just tossing around ideas.

"I wouldn't think so. Not if everyone already knows about it. I'm thinking the dummy one would have to be semi-encrypted, to make it look legitimate. Kind of like a Trojan Horse, but more radio signals and less sweaty Greeks."

[looksfine]

Of course she wouldn't shoot him down right away. Aya didn't do that...usually...unless the shooting down was such an obvious response that it required very little processing on her end. Which was not this time, so...right. Actual processing.

"Interesting. You are suggesting we deliberately leave a frequency vulnerable to act as a distraction from a far more hidden encryption beneath it. But would it not be obvious that this frequency was being seldom used?"

[runrightround]

"Good point." He taps at his chin, thinking. "We could round up some volunteers to use it. Just enough to make it look like it's something important."

There's no shortage of people around here that are able and willing to help, surely.

"They'd just have to make up some convincing nonsense to say."

[looksfine]

"Would you be willing to take charge of such a unit?"

Since it was his suggestion in the first place.

[runrightround]

"Me?"

It's not often that someone suggests Wally be in charge of something, so he's a little surprised. At least at first, he snaps out of it quickly enough and smiles. He's happy that he has a chance to actually work on something.

"Yeah! Totally. You can count on me."

[looksfine]

"Certainly. It was your idea. I can think of no reason at this time why you should not be the one to implement it."

She smiled warmly at him. The sentiment was completely genuine.

[runrightround]

"Thanks partner."

He holds his fist out to her, expecting a fistbump in return. This seems like a special enough occasion for one. It doesn't occur to him that it might be strange to her in anyway, he just keeps blabbering on.

"Or co-worker? I don't want to assume I'm on the payroll now... Wait, do you even get paid?"

[looksfine]

Her eyes fell to his hand first, confused, then back up again at the question.

"There is sufficient allowance in the budget for monetary compensation. I do not require much, as I do not require most of the usual necessities that other living organisms do, so I have made a point to prioritize payment to those who have offered their services here as well."

[runrightround]

"Oh. Sweet."

Money is money, and it's really not that big of a deal to him, but he's not going to complain about it. He waves his fist around a little.

"Are you going to leave me hanging?"

[looksfine]

Of course Aya would follow the procedures she had learned to be the expected cultural norm. Work required compensation. Particularly of this nature, where said compensation would result in the individual being able to care for himself with regards to basic necessities. Food. Housing. These were important.

"Hanging?" She continued to stare.

[runrightround]

"You know." He continues to wave his hand around. "Don't you?"

After an awkward second or two (or three!) he realizes what's happening here and he makes an 'ooh' sound. Wally has gotten so used to hanging out with the team, where there are fistbumps aplenty, that he may have forgotten that not everyone ever knows the majesty of the move. He puts his hands on his hips and grins at her.

"You really don't know how to fistbump? That's a shame."

[looksfine]

Fistbump...fistbump...

Oh!

"Hal Jordan has spoken of this Earth tradition on more than one occasion. Is that what you were attempting to initiate?"

[runrightround]

Hal Jordan? How does she know Hal Jordan? Wally takes a second to really look at her and, yeah, he notices the lantern symbol and the green. Interesting. One thing at a time though.

"If you know the Hal that I know," he pauses briefly. She probably doesn't know the Hal he knows. "Or some version of the Hal I know... then yeah."

[looksfine]

"I know multiple Hal Jordans. The one who first gave me my name...he is not here." She sounded almost saddened at this thought. "But there is still one who remains in Keelai, to my knowledge. The younger one no longer registers on my scanners."